


A Completely Lost Rabbit

by RainCoveredLens



Series: Running with Wolves [2]
Category: Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (TV 2016)
Genre: I Made Myself Cry, I hope you like it!, Like it's sad, M/M, Original Werewolf Character - Freeform, Original villain - Freeform, There's character death, Werewolf!AU, Werewolf!Todd, but just heads up you might cry, heads up, i'm so deep into this au i can't see the way out, rated teen for language and ya know, the dying bit, there are a couple of OCs that will show up in more from the series if I keep going, will there be a happy ending??, you'll have to wait and see
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-29
Updated: 2018-01-29
Packaged: 2019-03-10 20:49:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 13,837
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13509522
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RainCoveredLens/pseuds/RainCoveredLens
Summary: Dirk was in the middle of the room, his hands raised above his head and had a look of intrigue and fear stitched across his face. The two other people were standing with their backs to Todd; one held a gun, the other looked far more businesslike."Why do you have a dog whistle? Do you have a Scooby to your Shaggy?" Todd growled softly. Forget fixing the whistle. Todd was going to throw it into the Sound if they made it out of this alive.





	1. The Case of Mr. Hoppers

**Author's Note:**

> Hello and welcome to the werewolf alternate universe nobody asked for but I am providing anyways!
> 
> This is the second part of the Running with Wolves series. You don't have to read the first one (Under the Same Moon), but it's pretty cute, I suggest it. As stated in the tags, there will be character death (but will it be permanent?!) in the second chapter. I cried, you might cry, we'll see what happens.
> 
> Thank you for reading!

Todd had really liked that shirt. The shreds of his favorite ACDC graphic tee floated around him, and he shook the scraps free of his fur. He would definitely be making Dirk buy him a new one after the case was over. Todd charged down the hall, following the distressed scent of Dirk as it floated through the floor of the high rise. He had only left Dirk ten minutes ago, how had he already gotten himself into trouble?

A loud whistle pierced Todd's ears, and he growled to himself as he slowed to a trot. He would need to talk to Dirk about adjusting the pitch. The whistle was genuinely terrible.

The floor of the building that Todd and Dirk had found themselves on seemed to be under construction. Large piles of drywall littered the floor, and sheets of plastic hung from the ceiling, making seeing very far in front of him challenging. Todd had come to a closed off area that seemed to be more built out than the rest of the floor. Solid walls and doors had already been installed.

"Give me that!" He could hear an unfamiliar voice from the other side of one of the doors, the same door where Dirk's panicked scent was coming from. Todd sniffed carefully. There were two other people besides Dirk on the other side of the door, and one of them smelled strongly of gunpowder.

Great guns. Todd had a sinking feeling that saving Dirk was going to hurt a lot.

He carefully tried the handle with his nose, it clicked open, and he poked his head in, thanking the universe that the lights on this floor of the building were still under construction. Dirk was in the middle of the room, his hands raised above his head and had a look of intrigue and fear stitched across his face. The two other people were standing with their backs to Todd; one held a gun, the other looked far more businesslike.

"Why do you have a dog whistle? Do you have a Scooby to your Shaggy?" Todd growled softly. Forget fixing the whistle. Todd was going to throw it into the Sound if they made it out of this alive.

"I don't understand that reference. Is it a book, movie, television program? I spent many of my formative years being held captive–"

"Shut up! How did you know about this building?" Todd slipped into the room as quietly as a 5-foot-tall wolf could sneak anywhere. He slunk over to a large pile of palettes and got low to the ground, adjusting himself so that he could still see Dirk and the men. Todd figured if he could take out the gunman he could grab Dirk and book it down the stairs.

"Well, I was walking by, and I just got this hunch that I should come inside. Honestly, I didn't know there would be anyone here, especially people who like to trade expensive animal parts on the Black Market. I mean–" the gun was at his head before Todd could move.

 _Damn it, Dirk!_ He hoped that Dirk had developed telepathy so that he could hear the annoyance that Todd was feeling at the moment.

"I don't know anything I swear!" Dirk shouted, trying to inch away from the gun that was still at his temple.

"I'm not buying it. Did Ricardo send you? Zhao? Who?" Dirk was shaking his head, eyes glued shut.

"No, no, none of those fine-sounding people. No, look, I was investigating a missing rabbit. Okay? I'm a private detective, and I was hired by a twelve-year-old, at a rate of three meals from McDonald's to find her pet bunny. I, of course, took the case pro-bono, because, well, because she was twelve and I didn't think it would turn into a whole thing. I discovered some of your paperwork while I was searching through this floor and found that you have some dealings in the Black Market, which I don't particularly care about. I mean, everyone has to make a living right?" Dirk waved his hand around, slightly moving the gun as he did so that it was no longer pointed at his head.

"I stumbled upon your, business, I promise. I'm not looking into anything that you're doing. I honestly just want to know if you've seen a tan floppy-eared rabbit." Todd inched his way towards the man with the gun. He knew he could make a ten-foot jump from a crouch, so if Todd could just get two more feet forward, he'd be fine.

“You expect me to believe that? A private detective comes looking for a lost bunny and finds a secret magical animal trading industry?” The businessman asked.

Wait, magical animals? Todd faltered as he inched forward and almost lost his balance. Dirk’s eyes went wide.

“Magical animals? Like dragons and griffins and,” he caught sight of Todd, “werewolves?” It came out as a squeak.

“Yes. Regular animals are so, outdated, and make terrible cure-alls. The bone powder of a griffin is worth more than the entirety of the whole United States. That's the kind of stakes I want to deal with.” The man said.

“Well,” Dirk said, smiling, “it’s good that I found you. I’ve been meaning to unload a certain type of creature I have in my possession.”

 _That wasn’t very nice,_ Todd thought to himself as he scooted into position. The gunman had lowered his weapon entirely, and his back was still turned. Now Todd would just wait for Dirk to give him a cue.

“And what could you have that I could want? More magic rabbits?” The man asked dryly; he seemed to be tiring quickly of the entire situation.

“No! Of course not. Mr. Hoppers wasn't magical in the first place. I’ve got a werewolf in my possession and would love to know how much they go for.” The man took a pause and looked Dirk over as if he was trying to determine if Dirk was telling the truth or not.

"A werewolf?" he asked.

"Yes." Dirk nodded.

"Male or female?"

"Male. Definitely male." Dirk was grinning at this point.

“Age?”

“I’m 36,” Dirk said, giving a slight wave.

“Not you, idiot, the wolf.”

“Oh, yes, of course, he's 35.” The man made a humming noise.

“Turn or purebred?”

“Turn.”

“Illnesses?”

“Um, he had a hereditary thing, but that’s gone now.”

Todd was going to have to talk to Dirk about how it wasn’t cool to try to sell him, especially if he was ten feet away trying to make sure Dirk didn’t get shot.

“Has he bonded yet?” The man asked, seemingly interested in the prospects of acquiring Todd at that point.

Todd's ear perked up at the question. What did that mean? Todd didn't know a lot about werewolves outside of what he had figured out on his own, but he had never heard of bonding before, which meant that Dirk hadn't either. Dirk's brow creased in confusion.

“Um–”

“Wow, you don’t know a lot about wolves, do you? Does he have a pack, a mate?” Todd watched Dirk’s face go red.

“Oh, yes. He does. Have that. Bonded.” Dirk said, his eyes quickly glancing over at Todd and then back to the man.

“Well, that makes it harder. We’ll need the bonded pair together. But it sounds like you’re looking at around $300K if he’s healthy.” The man had relaxed slightly, his posture still perfect, but the tension in his shoulders gone. The man with the gun had also relaxed somewhat, the gun hanging at his side.

“Fantastic!" Dirks said, clapping his hands together, "I’d love to set up a meeting. Does now work?”

Todd launched himself at the gunman, jaw clamping down on the gun. The businessman gave a startled yell as Todd bounded off the gunman and turned on Dirk. Dirk had been ready for the move and jumped as gracefully as he could manage onto Todd’s back.

“So lovely meeting you, I guess, not really. Goodbye!” Dirk shouted over his shoulder as Todd raced out into the main office space. The plastic sheets on this part of the floor hung at weird intervals making it hard to see and remember how they had gotten there.

“Todd, did you hear what he said, you’re worth $300,000!” A growl escaped from Todd as he found the stairs and started taking them a floor at a time.

“No you’re right, selling people is very, clearly wrong, but that is quite a bit of money for a holistic detective's partner.” Dirk continued, his hands clinging tightly to Todd's shoulder fur.

 _I run half the company, Dirk!_ Todd yipped as they barreled into the parking garage and back out towards the streets.

“I’m glad you agree! Anyway, we learned some interesting things about the missing rabbit.”

Todd had stopped listening and focused instead on getting to the small strip of woods near the building without startling all of Seattle. They made it to the trees, and Todd slowed, allowing his heart to slow as he padded through the undergrowth, Dirk babbling on his back.

“-perhaps the rabbit was staging a coup. What do you think?” Todd snorted as he headed toward the office, he was reasonably sure they could make it back through this line of trees and only need some minor street travel.

“Is everything okay?” Dirk asked, leaning down a bit so that his chest was resting against Todd's back. Todd gave the standard two yips to say that he didn’t want to talk about it right then. They had come up with a shorthand for when they needed to communicate in the field.

“Alright. But we will talk about it right?” Todd stopped and gave Dirk a glance over his shoulder. He tried to push his thoughts at Dirk.

 _Sure, we’ll talk later about how there’s a magical animal trade, and you could literally sell me tomorrow._ But what was transferred was not quite as poetic.

“I understand you’re annoyed, but I don’t understand why. We’re almost back to the office, you can grab spare clothes, and we’ll talk over dinner.” Dirk said. Todd sighed and started loping through the woods. Dirk gave a little squeak and nestled into the fur on Todd’s neck.

Heat burned in Todd’s chest and he found himself thinking about what that businessman, or the black market dealer as he knew now, had said about bonded pairs. Was that what he and Dirk were? It didn’t feel any different than any other relationship he had ever been in, and he wasn’t sure if there was supposed to be something special about bonding for werewolves. But it had him thinking, not for the first time, how little he really knew about himself. What he did know was that the price on his head was fairly low for rare black market items, which meant he probably wasn’t rare.

Maybe he could find another wolf to talk to. How would he even go about doing that? They had arrived at the door of the office, and Todd waited patiently as Dirk slid off his back and opened the front door.

“I’ll order food, and you can get changed.” Todd snorted as he headed towards the back. The had converted the storage room he used to use for monthly shifts into where they kept disguises for cases, and also where Todd stored several extra changes of clothes for moments just like this. The door also had no handle so Todd could just push it open.

He was back to human and dressed within a couple of minutes and headed out to the couch to lay down.

“There you are.” Dirk’s cheerful voice scratched at Todd’s brain as he grabbed a pillow and huddled up next to it.

“Feeling alright?” Dirk asked.

“I’ve been better.” Todd heard Dirk rise and walk over, carefully taking a seat near him on the couch. Dirk wore a soft smile as he looked over at Todd.

“I’m sorry, about the selling you thing, I was just trying to buy time. And it worked!” Todd nodded, looking down at his nails.

“Yeah,” he was trying to add enthusiasm to his words, but he just could find any.

“Can you tell me why you’re upset?” Dirk had scooted closer and had reached out for Todd’s hand. Todd twitched back and knew immediately that had been the wrong move. Dirk's heart rate spiked and the smell of anxiety filled Todd's nose.

“I’m sorry," he sighed, "I’m just thinking. About the magical animal black market that apparently exists. About the– the bonded thing. Like, I didn’t know that was a thing. And I honestly don’t know if I am, that. How am I supposed to know? I don’t know anything about this whole thing. I pretend that I do, but I don’t! I don’t have any clue!” The heat was building in his chest, he could feel the wolf behind him, and he tried to take a steadying breath.

“I just, I need to know, more, about, everything,” he said, his voice cracking slightly. Dirk grabbed his hand, Todd didn't pull away this time but entwined his fingers and gave Dirk's hand a slight squeeze.

“I’m sorry you feel this way. But we’ll figure it out. Together. Cause that’s what pack does right? They help each other, support each other, and that’s what we’ll do. If we have to find you a werewolf coach, then we’ll do that!” He was smiling, trying to be as positive as possible. Todd laughed as an image from the original Teen Wolf film popped into his head.

“Will they teach me to play basketball?” he asked. Dirk sighed, closing his eyes and leaning backward away from Todd slightly.

“Right look, here’s the thing, I know you’re making a reference, and I don’t know what it’s to.”

Todd laughed.

“Really? In your extensive werewolf research that you did you never saw Teen Wolf?” He asked. He was honestly surprised, Dirk had often told him about the movies he had watched to try and learn about werewolves before letting Todd know that he had caught on to what was going on. Dirk frowned over at Todd.

“Didn’t they play lacrosse? With the sticks? I don’t remember baskets.”

“Okay, that was the remake series, we’re watching the original tonight. It’s vital to your education.” Todd stated firmly as Dirk smiled at him.

“That sounds like a wonderful plan. Come on. We’ll get the food on the way back to the Ridgely.” Dirk hopped off the couch and quickly grabbed their bags and a spare jacket for Todd. He pulled out Todd’s phone and smiled.

“Didn’t lose it this time.” Todd took the phone with an eye-roll.

“Good job. Now, food and movies.” They headed back out the door and to Dirk’s car. Todd could figure out all the worries he had tomorrow, but for tonight, they were going to relax and try to have a normal night in.

 

The credits rolled on Teen Wolf as Todd adjusted himself on the couch, snuggling closer to Dirk’s side.

“What’d you think?” He asked, glancing over at Dirk who was making a rather blank expression at the TV. Dirk was silent for a moment.

“So, is this related to the one with the man with the white hair?” he asked, looking over at Todd.

“Back to the Future?”

“No Todd, this is the present,” Dirk said, very seriously. Todd laughed and shook his head.

“No, this is not related to the movies with the man with the white hair.” Dirk sighed and carefully dislodged himself from the couch, standing and stretching his arms above his head.

“But it’s related to the television program though, correct?” Todd groaned and flopped onto the couch.

“Yes. Did you seriously watch that entire show?” he asked, looking up at Dirk.

“Well, I mean, I was doing research, and it seemed like the most research-heavy show. That and I had a deep emotional connection to Stiles, so I just kept watching. It got rather odd after the end of the first season. I believe they might have been trying too hard to be serious.” Dirk had reappeared and was standing at the head of the couch, smiling down at Todd.

“Yeah, that tends to happen when MTV decides to make a serious teen’s show.” Dirk look offended.

“That show was for teens? I thought anyone could watch it!” Dirk said, he seemed genuinely annoyed at this revelation.

“Really? You were watching a TV show about high schoolers, and you were like, this is totally how my life works?” Dirk looked flustered as he stomped into the kitchen.

"Stiles is an American me!" Dirk argued and all Todd could do was laugh.

“Well, fine then. I’m going to make tea.” Dirk grumbled.

Todd sat up, resting his head on the back of the couch so that he could see Dirk in the kitchen. Dirk was busying himself with Todd’s stove kettle and looking through the cupboards for tea.

“Ugh, I can never find your tea. We should just move in together, and then I could organize the kitchen.” Dirk said as he dropped down below the counter looking through the lower cabinets.

“Dirk, the only part of your kitchen that’s organized is your tea cupboard. The rest is a Level 5 hazmat zone.” Dirk gave a holler from the ground, and Todd saw a box of fancy British tea appear, tea Todd purchased specifically so Dirk could drink it.

“Well then I could organize the tea cupboard, and you could organize everything else.” Dirk flashed him a smile that turned a knot in Todd’s stomach.

“Do you really want to move in together?” Todd asked, hesitantly. Dirk nodded as he threw some tea bags into mugs.

“Of course. Is that not the next step in relationships? Courtship and then cohabitation?” He asked, turning to find the sugar container.

To say that Dirk and Todd had a typical relationship would be a stretch. Mostly, the spent time together at work, and time together almost getting shot, and the rest of the time they were eating, watching movies, and making out. They hadn’t even slept together yet.

Wait. That couldn’t be right. Todd screwed up his face as he looked at the calendar on his wall. Nope, they had been official for going on five months now. How had they not slept together? Todd wasn’t exactly known for being easy, but he wasn’t a prude.

He tried to think of the times they might have slept together and always came back to one of them actually falling asleep. Usually, when Dirk stayed over or vice versa, they were watching TV and would fall asleep to whatever they were watching. He was going to need to contact Amanda immediately for advice.

While he had lost himself in thought, he had failed to notice Dirk talking to him.

“–as far as I know about these things. Todd? Todd! Did you hear me?” Todd turned and made an apologetic face.

“No sorry, I was thinking, about stuff.”

“What stuff?” Todd felt his cheeks go a little red.

“Oh, just, relationship stuff. We’ve never, ya know, slept together.” Dirk snorted and waved his hand.

“Of course we have, you fell asleep halfway through that movie! I almost turned it off, but you woke back up!” Dirk said, flipping the stove off and beginning to pour the water into the mugs.

Dirk wasn’t getting it. Todd stood from the couch and slowly walked over to the counter.

“No, I mean, we haven’t ya know, slept-slept together.” Dirk had furrowed his brows in confusion and Todd was able to pick out the exact moment when Dirk caught on. His face flushed and his eyes went wide, and his mouth formed a little ‘oh.’

“Well, I mean, do you– do you want to? I mean we could if you wanted to.” Dirk seemed a little off about this and Todd was concerned he had touched on a difficult subject.

“I mean, not if you’re not ready, it’s just, it’s a little odd for me, relationship timeline wise." Todd could see Dirk was trying to find a way to get out of the conversation. Todd made his way around the bar and took Dirk's hands in his.

"Hey, I'm not going to rush you into anything. It'll happen when the universe wants it to, right?" Todd asked, smiling lightly. Dirk gave a weak smile back and shrugged.

"It's just, that, I don't have a ton of experience. I mean, I have experience, that's not the issue, it's just, things tend to go, sour, after having– making– well, you know. And I didn't want to ruin anything. Everything has been going so well. Right?" Todd smiled at him and nodded.

"Exactly. We'll get there when the time is right, and trust me, you won't ruin anything, we're both adults, we can handle anything that comes our way."

There was a loud banging on the front door. Todd turned, his ears pricking, nostrils flaring. The familiar smell of gunpowder met his nose.

"Shit. Fire escape." He hissed. Dirk looked confused but hurried to the window. As soundlessly as possible Dirk slid the window open and slipped out. Todd was about to follow when he heard his phone buzz, he glanced over at the coffee table and cursed to himself.

"Crap, go, I'll be right behind you." Dirk made a concerned face but shimmied down the fire escape quickly. Todd raced back over to the phone and had just grabbed it as the door burst open.

"Hello there! Sorry about this." Gunfire disoriented Todd as a bullet tore through his shoulder. He shouted in pain and turned, shift on the tips of his fingers.

"Not so fast." A bright purple powder clouded Todd's vision, and he stumbled backward. He hadn't breathed much of the powder in, but what had entered his system began to restrict his breathing quickly. Todd's thoughts blurred. What had been in that powder? Wait, who were the people in his apartment? He blinked and just made out the black market dealer from earlier as he fell to his knees.

"Oh, that detective thought he could mess with me, and there wouldn't be consequences? Bonded or not, you're going to make a beautiful rug for a Russian diplomat, or maybe a sideshow attraction of an Israeli official. We'll see who bids the highest."

Rough hands grabbed tight to Todd's arms and hoisted him over an even more uncomfortable shoulder. They swung in a circle, disorienting him even more than before.

"Here, let's see his hand." They swung again, and Todd found himself slowly fading. The man appeared in his vision, holding a small shiny coin.

"Pure silver, the easiest way to determine bonding status." The man pressed the coin to Todd's hand, and for a minute the world refocused around the pain shooting up his arm. An inhuman scream tore from Todd's throat, and the man laughed lightly.

"Unbonded, you poor little pup. Maybe I'll just sell you to the highest unbonded bidder; they're always rather desperate." Todd squirmed but he was quickly losing consciousness, between the mysterious purple powder and the burn mark on his hand, he just wasn't able to keep his eyes open.

"Get him in the car. I'm going to leave a note for the detective." Todd spun again as the man carrying him headed towards the door. The last conscious thought Todd had was that at least Dirk was safe.

 

Dirk raced down the streets towards Farah's house.

Stupid Dirk, stupid, stupid, stupid, he should never have left Todd. He left him alone. And now–

He couldn't think about it. He had to get to Farah.

He rounded the corner on Farah's street and spotted her car in her driveway. He sent a thank you out to the universe that Farah was at home and picked up the pace, sprinting for her door.

Four loud bangs. No response. Five loud bangs. No response. He banged until the door opened.

"What the hell Dirk?!" He collapsed forward, sprinting two miles finally catching up with him.

"Gone. Taken. Man. Bad man. Magica–" hiccup, "magical animals. Black market. Farah, Todd." The tears fell from his eyes as he curled in on himself, praying to any god that would listen to help. Farah's hands were on his shoulders, and she was pulling him up.

"Names, locations, last seen, go."

"I don't know, a building downtown and Todd's apartment, maybe 20 minutes ago." He pulled the crumpled paper from his pocket. "Note." Farah snatched the note, unwrinkling it as she read.

"'Hello Mr. Gently, Thank you for the unbonded wolf, I will take it as payment for the time you wasted this evening. Any wrong moves and he dies. X.' Dirk, who is X, what happened tonight? Does this have to do with the rabbit?" Dirk was nodding as he propped himself against Farah's still open door. His body was failing him as he panicked. A pain in his lungs had formed from lack of oxygen and from running two miles in the middle of the night.

"We were looking, and we found a building, and that man was there, and he deals in magical animals. I told him about Todd to buy time. Oh god, he found us because of my ramblings. He must have been able to look me up. Farah, this is all my fault!" Dirk banged his head against the door, clamping his eyes shut in an attempt to stop the tears from escaping. Farah had crouched down in front of Dirk, one hand on his knee.

"Deep breath in, hold for four, exhale for eight, repeat. We will find him, we will deal with X, we will get Todd back." Farah's tone was deathly even, encouraging Dirk to open his eyes and look at her. Dirk saw steel in her eyes and nodded.

“Okay. We’re going to need help.” Farah said, pulling her phone out as she stood.

  
Todd awoke in a small, cold space. Not the best place to wake up. His mind was still fuzzy, making focusing on any one thing difficult. He tried to move and found an extreme pain in his hand. Right, the silver coin. Todd groaned as he looked at his hand, what should have been smooth skin by now was bright red and blistered, a clear brand of the coin burned into his hand.

“It won’t heal until you bond. We aren’t strong enough to heal from silver by ourselves.” A new voice sounded next to him. He blinked and looked beyond his hand.

Todd was trapped in a cage, not large enough for him to stand, but large enough for him to sit up. Rows of cages surrounded him, each filled with a different person.

“Where am I?” He muttered.

“Some building in Seattle. This is the werewolf block. Or at least canine types. They’ve got some weird wolfsbane sprinklers rigged up here.” The same voice. He turned and saw the source. A young girl who didn't look older than 16 was sitting criss-cross in the cage next to Todd. She was fairly average looking, symmetrical features, long brown hair, but a little more muscular than the average teenager, Todd thought that she must have done a sport, and realized that she was wearing a t-shirt for a local high school's track team.

“Wolfsbane?” Todd asked, trying to adjust himself into a more comfortable position without aggravating his hand.

“Ya know, monkshood? Aconite? Purple flower, not great for us?” She paused taking in Todd’s confusion. “Shit, are you a freshi or something?”

“I don’t understand what you’re asking.”

The girl rolled her eyes and propped her head up on her hand.

“Hello, welcome to the werewolf club. My name is Amy, I was born purebred, and you were…” she trailed off, waiting for Todd.

“Oh, um, I’m Todd, and I was turned about a year ago?”

“Very good,” Amy said, her voice inflecting on the wrong parts.

“Well Todd, you seem to know absolutely nothing. And you’re clearly not bonded so whoo for you. You’ll probably get sold to someone who wants to make you happy. While most of us get to go and be cattle wranglers or whatever.” Todd looked around at the other cages. No one was talking, or moving really.

“Everyone here is a wolf?” He asked.

“Or something. Canines typically react to wolfsbane no matter what. Except for Yuki over there,” she pointed to a girl a few down who was completely unconscious. Todd turned to follow her gesture and saw a young woman curled in a cage, a morphine drip feeding into her arm.

“She’s a nine-tailed kitsune, so they just have her on constant morphine. We’re all very certain she’s never gonna wake up.” Her tone was flat as she refocused on Todd.

“You’re very morbid,” he said.

“I’ve been trapped here for three months. I haven’t seen my family, or my sister, or anyone that matters to me, so yeah, I’m morbid.” Todd turned back so that he was facing her.

“So, are you bonded?” Todd asked.

“Purebreds don’t have to bond until we’re 21, till then I’m good as gold. You, on the other hand, will probably want to bond soon, mostly to fix that hand.” Todd sighed, shaking his hand lightly, the pain had ebbed to a dull ache.

“Can you explain what it is? Bonding? Like, what’s the process?” Amy laughed and leaned against her cage.

“Oh, you little pup, did your sire not tell you anything?”

“Well, I got jumped and ended up like this, so we’ll go with no,” Todd growled. He was beginning to hate being trapped with a teenager.

Her eyes softened.

“I’m sorry. It shouldn't be forced on anyone.” Todd nodded, rubbing at the soft scar on his shoulder from the first bite.

“Well, I'm here now, so might as well learn right?” She smiled and shuffled forward, leaning forward with her elbows on her knees.

“That’s a solid attitude. Alright, settle in, you’re gonna get Werewolf 101. Lesson one: shifting. Wait, you know about shifting, right?” Todd nodded. He was fairly good at it he thought, so he hoped she could jump to a different category.

“Perfect! Lesson 2: Poisons. So you’ve got aconite and silver. There are some rarer ones, but we’ll just focus on these two. Aconite, or as it’s more commonly known as wolfsbane is super not great. You get any into your system, and you’re as good as normal.”

“As someone who's been normal, this is terrible,” Todd said, trying and failing to take a deep breath. She snorted and continued.

“Fair point. Essentially it slows down our systems, knocks the wolf out while beating the shit out of you. You will feel tired, and confused. You will not be able to shift until the stuff is out of your system. Typically a couple of hours, longer exposures vary. For example,” she pointed across the way to a man who was curled in a tight ball.

“He’s been here two years, and he is now essentially comatose. He will probably never recover.” She pointed at herself. “I’m young and purebred, maybe a week if I get out soon. You will want to probably go for a full body detox if you get out, just saying.”

Todd nodded, the burning returning to his hand.

“And silver?” He asked. She flashed him a wicked grin.

“Silver is the kicker. It can kill you instantly if you come into contact with too much of it. As you have seen, it burns, and unbonded wolves are unable to heal from it. It’s why packs are encouraged. You will not be able to heal from that until you bond with someone.” Todd looked down at the brand, heat rising to his chest.

“And bonding?”

“Lesson 3: The sacred art of bonding, whether it be a pack or an individual. It’s really up to you. It’s as intimate as it sounds. You bond yourself, for life, by having sex, fun right? But it’s gotta be intentional. Can you imagine bonding to the first person you have sex with? Ugh, it’d be terrible. No, it’s a physical and mental process, you let yourself access the power of the shift, and then you go at it.”

“So, I can only bond as the wolf?” That seemed unfortunate. He would have to find a wolf if he wanted to fix his hand. But Amy was shaking her head.

“No, you can have normal person sex, but internally you have to shift, just a little. It’s a spiritual thing, something along the lines of being like super emotional and open while getting it done. You know?” Todd did not, but he was becoming uncomfortable talking about this with a child.

“No, but it’s okay, I’ll figure it out. Anything else I need to know about the wolf community or is that the basics?”

She shrugged at him.

“That’s pretty much it. How have you never come across another wolf?”

Todd wasn’t sure; he was going to say because Seattle is a big city, but as he looked around it probably had more to do with the illegal magical animal trading.

“I have a weird job. I work for a detective, a holistic detective, we kinda just do whatever.” He said, looking around the room at the other cages again. Amy had perked up and scooted closer to him, her knees bumping up against the side of her cage.

“Holistic Detective? Like Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency?” she asked, her eyes wide. Todd had gotten used to experiencing the universe and all it’s weird up close, but this just seemed very on the nose.

“Um, yes?”

“Oh my god, Abby was right!” Amy shouted, balling her hands into fists and doing a small shuffle dance in place.

“Who’s Abby?" Todd asked before he remembered the girl who had come in just a day before, "Wait, Abby Johnson? The rabbit girl?”

Amy looked like she had just won the lottery.

“Yes! That’s my sister! She lost her rabbit and said she was gonna go pay some investigator to find it, but I said I’d find it and that’s how I got here!”

“Well, that rabbit is probably long dead." Todd said, frowning and feeling his brain trying to connect the pieces, "Why would she wait three months to come find us?” Amy shrugged at him.

“Maybe it came back? And then got lost again?" she offered, "It was always getting lost under couches, it didn’t help that the rabbit was black. You could never see the damn thing under–”

“Black?”

“As night.” Todd frowned.

“What?”

“Well, she told us that is was tan and had floppy ears. Could she have gotten another rabbit?” Todd almost missed the tears.

“Whoa, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you–”

“Tan with floppy ears? That’s me! I mean, I’m not a rabbit, but my coat, it’s tan, and one of my ears flops down. She sent you to find me!” Todd couldn’t help but smile.

“Solved it!” He said before he realized Dirk wasn’t there, and that Dirk would have to find him to hear how he solved the case. Dirk _had_ to find him.

“I solved the case. Step number one done. Step number two, we have to get out of here. The universe wanted me here, and by extension, it also wanted me to get branded, and shot, and kidnapped. God the universe sucks, but I found you! And all the others, and we’re gonna get everyone out!” Amy was smiling, properly smiling.

“Fantastic! How?”

All Todd’s energy left him feeling deflated. How was he going to get everyone out? Could he do that?

“I don’t know. Yet. But I’ll figure it out. I’m going to get you home Mr. Hoppers.” He gave her a soft smile as she laughed.

“Sounds like a plan freshi.”


	2. Why is a Raven Like a Writing Desk?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello all! 
> 
> So this is the chapter with the death. I just wanted to warn you.

Amanda and the Rowdy3 had been nearby when Farah called. Within an hour Amanda was holding Dirk in her arms as they sat on the couch in Farah’s living room. Farah sat across from them on the arm of a chair.

"It's okay. We're going to get him back, just point us in a direction, we'll take out whoever you want." Amanda said as she drew circles on Dirk’s back.

"Thank you, Amanda, that'd be super," Dirk mumbled, leaning heavily on Amanda’s shoulder. Farah had given Dirk an anti-anxiety pill, and he was feeling very fluffy.

"Right. Farah, no more drugs." Amanda said, throwing her a quick glare over Dirk’s head. Farah gave her a quick thumbs-up as they sat in her living room waiting for the Rowdies to return from Todd's apartment. They had headed over in an attempt to catch Todd's sent and follow it.

There was a soft knock at the door. Farah stood up and moved over to the entryway, smiling when she found the boys and Beast waiting patiently at the door.

"Thanks for knocking. Did you find anything?" Farah asked as the group piled into the living room. Martin fished a napkin out of his pocket and handed it over.

"Whole place smelled off, this dusty stuff is what it smelled like." He said, going to stand behind Amanda and Dirk.

"Is this purple powder?" Farah asked, about to sniff the napkin.

"Wait!" Dirk shouted, causing everyone to jump. He stood, and then promptly fell back over into Amanda.

"Damn it legs." He stood again and tumbled over to Farah snatching the napkin from her hand and then falling towards the wall.

"Aha! He said it was for teens! He was wrong! I know a thing!" Dirk steadied himself against the wall, waiting for the room to stop spinning.

"I know several things. Several useful, facty type things." He held up the napkin and waved it around slightly.

"This, is ACDC." He stated matter of factly. There was silence from the group as they looked at each other.

"Don't you see?!" He shouted, waving the napkin around.

"That the purple dust is a hard rock band?" Amanda ventured. Dirk frowned at her and then looked down at the napkin.

"No, wait, what did I say? A-c, a-c-o, Accio!" He giggled lightly. "No, wrong show."

Farah frowned at Dirk as he slowly began to mutter to himself, still glaring down at the napkin. The anti-anxiety pill had been a mistake; she could see that now.

"Oh! Nordic Blue Monkshood!" Dirk exclaimed, giving Farah a large smile.

"Nordic Blue Monkshood? Is that a thing?" She asked looking around to see if anyone knew what he was talking about.

"It is a thing. It's a pretty little purple flower, it’s no good for wolves," He had moved slightly away from Gripps and had lost his balance, falling forward and was saved by Gripps who grabbed the back of his collar and righted him back up on his feet.

"Thank you, kind sir! The flower, it's very pretty, makes the wolves go ‘rawr.’” Dirk said, including hand gestures and almost falling forward again.

"Oh!" Amanda shouted this time. She jumped up, pulling out her phone and typing quickly. "Dirk, do you mean this?" She flipped the phone around, and Dirk squealed.

"Yes! That! Very pretty!" He leaned his full weight onto Gripps who looked like he didn't even care that Dirk was there. Amanda flipped the phone to show Farah.

"Monkshood, or as it's popularly known, Wolfsbane. Could this stuff actually affect Todd?" Farah took the phone, reading quickly down the page.

"I mean, maybe? We don't know a ton about werewolves. It's, possibly probable." Farah responded, watching as Amanda nodded.

"Alrighty. New plan, boys. Find me the highest concentration of this smell in the city." Amanda snatched the napkin and passed it around the group. Martin got the napkin last, taking a long drag and crumpling it back into his pocket.

"Got it. Let's roll out boys!" Martin shouted, waving his hand in a round motion and pointing towards the door. Vogel howled as the five piled out of the house. Gripps deposited Dirk into a chair before leaving. Amanda turned to Farah and smiled.

"I'll go with them. We'll call when we find it." She cast a glance a Dirk who was fiddling with a small tassel on a pillow. "Please fix him before we raid a super-secret werewolf prison. Call soon!" She raced out of the house and Farah heard the van roar away, taking out trashcans as they went.

Farah sighed and looked at Dirk who had moved on to staring at the lamp.

"Okay, let's get some rest while they search. I've got a guest room, come on." Farah helped Dirk up the stairs to her guest room and helped him get comfortable on top of the sheets.

"Farah," Dirk's voice sounded as she headed for the door, she turned, hand resting on the light switch, "I don't think Mr. Hoppers is what we think he is." Dirk's eyes fell closed as he drifted to sleep, leaving Farah to wonder what a rabbit had to do with werewolves.

 

Todd woke the next morning to find that he was having difficulty breathing. He tried for a couple of shallow breaths but ended up very dizzy. It felt like someone was slowly choking him, a tightness in his throat and lungs.

“Amy.” He croaked, there was a shuffle from her side of the cage and a groan.

“No, freshi, five more minutes.” She was curled in a tight ball, her long dark hair covering her whole head and part of her upper body.

“I can’t breathe.” He tried, but even forming the sentence was almost too much. It did get her up and moving, though.

“Todd? What’s wrong?” Todd fell backward against his cage, gasping. If he didn’t know any better, he would have thought that he was having a pararibulitis attack, but Todd had asked Amy about hereditary diseases and lycanthropy. As far as she knew he would be fine and not suffer any more attacks.

“Hey!” Amy shouted, trying to get someone’s attention. “Hey, help! He can’t breathe! Hey!” It took a couple of minutes, but a guard appeared and inspected Todd through the cage. Todd had started seeing spots and was reasonably sure his lips were blue, by the point the man arrived.

“He seems to be having an adverse reaction to the wolfsbane. I’ll call the doctor.” The man turned and spoke quickly into a walkie-talkie attached to his lapel.

“Todd.” Amy said, poking him through the cage, “Come on Todd, you have to stay alive, you have to rescue me remember? You have to solve the case of Mr. Hoppers.” Todd nodded as best he could. The world was quickly fading away.

“Move.” A new voice sounded from the direction the guard had gone.

“Open the door.” The voice continued. Todd’s eyes fluttered open only to be greeted by a bright light.

“He’s experiencing extreme anaphylaxis. I am going to administer epinephrine. Be ready with the stun gun. The epinephrine will burn the aconite out of his system.” Todd felt a sharp jab in his leg, and then he would have sworn that his heart exploded. He sat straight up and looked around, his senses acuter than they had been in almost twenty-four hours.

“Collar!” The woman, who Todd realized was the doctor, had backed away from his cage. The guard from before reappeared and clasped a heavy metal collar tightly around Todd’s neck.

“This one will need to be moved to a non-aconite area. Close it back up and get him ready for transportation.” The doctor said as the guard slammed Todd’s door closed.

“What? No please, can’t you give him some allergy meds?” Amy had grabbed the front of her cage, pleading towards the doctor who had started walking away. The doctor ignored her calls and left with the guard.

“Todd. Okay, focus. They’re going to move you. I don’t know if they’re going to move you out of the building or just to an area without wolfsbane, but Todd, you can’t leave me here. Please! The universe brought you all this way.” Amy was crying, her hand reached through the bars and grabbed Todd’s hand, nearly breaking his fingers in her death grip. He nodded, feeling the effects of the epinephrine fading away, his racing heart beginning to slow.

“Don’t worry. The universe will save you. You’re Dirk’s case. He’ll find you.” Todd’s eyes fluttered closed for a moment. And then he took a deep breath in, forcing them back open.

“Can you tell me more about bonding?” Amy gave a soft laugh and nodded.

“Sure thing, what do you want to know?”

“So, once you’ve bonded, then what?” She smiled, still holding tight to his hand.

“Well, you become linked, mentally linked. You can feel each other, no matter where the other is, some bonded pairs can even read each other’s minds. They live together, and work together, and do everything together. It doesn’t have to be romantic though. I mean sure, it starts with sex but then, it’s all about the relationship after that. You want to be friends with your bonded? Cool, you have a super-best friend. You want to be more? That works too.”

Todd nodded, his eyes betraying him and closing again.

“Amy can you do me a favor?” he asked.

“Sure thing. What do you need?”

Todd swallowed, feeling himself fading into exhaustion.

“If you see Dirk before me, and I feel like you probably will, can you tell him that bit about bonding, and tell him, tell him, ugh, he’ll know once you explain. He’s hard to miss. He’s British, and skinny, and has auburn hair, and he’ll be wearing a bright jacket. Knowing him, he'll probably fall through the ceiling or appear in a cloud of smoke or something ridiculous.” Todd could hear the guards returning, and Amy was squeezing his hand tighter than before.

“Nu-huh, you can tell him yourself.” Her hand disappeared, and Todd was jostled suddenly. He banged his head against the cage, the sharp metal of the collar digging into his throat. Stars danced across his vision as he fell into darkness for the second time in 24 hours. As he lost consciousness he could have sworn he heard his name in a familiar accent.

  
Dirk woke with a start. He felt like his heart was racing a mile a minute. Where was he? Oh god! Where was Todd?

Dirk jumped out of bed and suddenly felt very dizzy, the events of the night before slowly coming back to him. Had Farah given him drugs to calm him down? That sounded right, and that probably explained the reality hangover he was experiencing. To say that his hunches were probably going to be a little different than they usually were would have been an understatement.

“Farah.” He called, heading out into the hall. There was shuffling downstairs and the sound of chairs moving.

“Down here Dirk.” Came her reply.

Dirk made his way down the stairs but almost fell on the last three as a pain erupted from the back of his head. He gasped, clutching his head, surprised that he hadn’t pulled away blood. The pain began to fade as he made it to the base of the stairs and headed towards the kitchen.

_Todd_. The hunch was unhelpful to Dirk. Was there something wrong with Todd? Was the universe trying to brace him for something?

"Todd?" he whispered. But there was, of course, no response. The universe had also seemingly gone silent as the pain in his head changed to a dull ache.

“Farah, did I hit my head last night?” He called. Her head appeared from around the corner at the end of the hall.

“Not that I know of; does your head hurt.” He nodded, slowly rubbing the soreness out. He walked into the kitchen to find the entirety of the Rowdy3 eating pancakes.

“I have some aspirin if you want some.” She offered, going to open one of the cabinets.

“No drugs!” Everyone yelled. She startled and turned to look the group over. Amanda was shaking her head while Martin was trying not to laugh. Dirk had moved back a little; his hand raised as if to say ‘please no.’ Later, when asked, Farah would say that she had never felt more attacked.

“Fine, no drugs. Dirk, they found the building with the wolfsbane.” Dirk nodded his head, still massaging the back of his scalp. Farah pushed a mug towards him, and Dirk was pleased to see that it was filled to the brim with tea.

“Perfect. Where is it?” Dirk asked taking a quick sip of the tea.

“5th and Lakeshore. Big sky rise.” Amanda said in between bites of pancakes. Dirk frowned over at her.

“5th and Lakeshore? Todd and I were there yesterday. How did we miss that it was secretly a magical animal trading hub, how did Todd not notice?”

“Not a clue Boss Man,” Martin shrugged. “But there is some funky voodoo going on in there. Bet that’s where Wolf’s at.” Amanda nodded and smiled.

“So we know where, now how?” Amanda asked, looking towards Dirk and Farah. Dirk thought for a moment and then turned to Farah.

“I have an idea.” He said, a smile breaking across his face.

 

“This is a bad idea,” Farah grumbled into the hidden earpiece. She was walking down the street dressed in the nicest business pant-suit she owned, a pair of fake glasses popped on her face.

“Nonsense!” Came Dirk’s far too loud response through the earpiece. “Simply go up to the front desk, say you want to speak with Mr. X, ask to see the wolves, and then ask specifically to see an unbonded male. In theory, they’ll take you to where Todd is being held.” Farah fidgeted with her blazer once more as she walked towards the building.

“Fine, but what happens if they take my gun?” Her gun was hidden under her blazer, tucked into a holster in the small of her back.

“I haven’t thought that far ahead Farah. But I’m sure you’ll be fine.” She grumbled to herself as she walked through the doors. There was an enormous entryway that was divided by a reception desk. A young, business looking woman sat at the desk, quickly typing on a computer.

“Here we go.” She whispered, hoping the others could hear her. Farah walked up to the desk and smiled.

“Good morning. I would like to speak with Mr. X regarding a business transaction. Is he available?” The receptionist looked at her; disbelief etched across her face.

“Why is a raven like a writing desk?” Farah froze. Of course, there was some word puzzle code in order to get into the facility. A word puzzle code that she had no idea how to solve.

“Why is a raven like a writing desk?” Farah echoed back, hoping Dirk was still listening.

“Oh, a puzzle.” Came his quiet reply.

“Yes, ma’am. Why is a raven like a writing desk?”

“Because there’s a ‘b’ in both*,” Dirk whispered frantically. Farah thought that made as much sense as the riddle, but she had no other answer.

“Because there’s a ‘b’ in both.” She said, staring the receptionist down.

""If seven maids with seven mops, swept it for half a year. Do you suppose," the Walrus said, "That they could get it clear?"" Farah had accepted she was about to die, but to her surprise, Amanda hopped on the coms.

""I doubt it," said the Carpenter,”” Farah repeated the words, ""And shed a bitter tear.""**

“Mr. X will see you now.” Farah smiled and thanked the receptionist, heading towards the elevator.

“Good job Amanda!” Dirk’s voice came through into Farah’s ear.

“Eh, ain’t no thing. Lewis Carroll is like my favorite author.” Amanda said through her earpiece. Farah gave a soft smile as she hopped on the elevator.

“Thanks for that you two. Dirk, how did you know the desk one?” Dirk snorted.

“Oh, I heard it on a television program, I’m amazed they accepted that answer.” Farah rolled her eyes and made a mental note to strangle him later for putting the fate of her life in a television show.

“Right, well, going up. 18th floor.” The doors slid closed with a ding.

 

Dirk, Amanda, and the Rowdy3 snuck their way into the parking garage, careful to avoid the cameras by slinking along the walls.

"Okay," Dirk said, "Farah is going up to the 18th floor. That's likely where Mr. X is, but we don't want to go there. We want to go here." Dirk pointed to the 12th floor on a map that hung on the wall near the door to the stairwell. "According to Amanda, this entire floor has been retrofitted with specialized water sprinklers, probably for some not great reason. The Rowdies will take out anyone we see, and then we breakout everyone we can. Sound like a plan?" Dirk asked as they entered the stairwell.

"Sure thing, Boss Man." Martin and the other four raced up the stairs towards the 12th floor. Dirk glanced at Amanda and smiled at her.

"I've got a good feeling. We're close to, something." She nodded.

"Let's go." They raced up the stairs after the others. As they climbed floor after floor Dirk remembered back to the very first case, to the Perriman Grand, running with Todd to what they had thought would be the solutions to all their problems, it hadn't been of course, but they had solved the case. Together. And soon, they would be together again.

Dirk passed the door for the 10th floor and noticed a red medical cross next to the door.

_Mm, first aid,_ Dirk thought to himself as they climbed the last couple of flights of stairs.

The Rowdy3 had already burst onto the 12th floor, taking out the smattering of guards at the door. Dirk entered, breathing heavily and looking around. The level had indeed been retrofitted with specialized sprinklers, a soft purple powder coated everything, and Dirk figured that the sprinklers emitted some form of wolfsbane mist.

"Whoo! Jailbreak!" Martin howled as he started breaking open cages with the others. Dirk looked around and saw at least 50 cages, each filled with a person in a different state of exhaustion. The people closest to the door had turned and were carefully climbing from their broken cages as the Rowdy3 raced down rows. Dirk gave his best smile to the people who were quickly crowding past him towards the door.

"Hello! I'm–"

"DIRK GENTLY!" The voice came from the back of the room. An arm was sticking up through one of the cages, and a girl was beaming at him. Dirk pushed his way through the escapees and jogged the short distanced to the girl in the cage, grabbing Vogel on the way so that he could break open her cage.

"Um, hello?" he asked as they arrived at the cage.

"You're Dirk Gently right!? He said you would come, quick, we don't have a ton of time." Dirk moved back as Vogel smashed open the lock, getting a good look at the girl who didn't look much older than her teens but also seemed oddly familiar.

"I'm sorry, do I know you?" Dirk asked as he messed with the lock that was still slightly stock on the door of the cage.

"You know my sister. She hired you to find her pet rabbit. You've found me instead." She was beaming up at him.

"You're Abby's sister?" Dirk asked as he finally got the lock free of the cage. The girl pushed the door open and hopped to the ground, stumbling slightly into Dirk but righting herself quickly.

"Sure am. Look, it's a weird question, but do you have an epi-pen? Epinephrine?" Dirk beamed at her.

"No, but I know where to find some!" He said, pointing back towards the door.

"Perfect! We're gonna tear this mother down!" She howled. The Rowdies joined in as they finished smashing the locks open. Most of the people who had been captive had exited their cages and were standing on shaking legs. A couple had moved to help a woman who was hooked up to some IV drip. As soon as they had removed the needle from her hand, her eyes snapped open, burning a bright gold as she carefully climbed from her cage.

"We need epi-pens, like now." The girl who had called Dirk over said. He glanced over at her and nodded.

"Right, follow me." Dirk led the girl back towards the door, grabbing Amanda on his way out. They ran back down the stairs and burst onto the medical floor. Several surprised people turned to look at them, but none reacted faster than Amanda, who pulled a gun from her jacket, leveling it at the doctors and scientists.

"Amanda!" Dirk shouted startling away from the gun. The girl, whose name Dirk still didn't know, let out a surprised laugh and threw Dirk a slightly concerned expression.

"Hello, everyone. We're the Rowdy3, and we want all your epi-pens." Amanda shouted, looking around the room at the stunned doctors. For a moment nobody moved. Amanda sighed and fired the gun at the wall.

"Not gonna ask again!" A few of the doctors hurried towards a fridge in the middle of the room. Quickly opening the door and starting to pull trays out containing vials of what Dirk assumed was epinephrine.

"Thank you! That wasn't that hard. Now, someone get some needles and follow these two fine people back up to the 12th floor." The doctors that were carrying the vials grabbed a few syringes and fell in line behind Dirk and the girl as they headed back up the stairs, leaving Amanda and her gun to wrangle the remaining scientists.

"So terribly sorry about the gun, she's not normally like that." Dirk apologized to the closest scientist who just frowned at him. They made it to the 12th floor to see that almost all of the prisoners had fled save for the few that were too weak to move. The Rowdies had started helping those to get to the door.

"Yo, labcoat, me first." The girl rolled up her sleeve as they made it back to the 12th floor. The other two doctors that had come up, headed over to the remaining prisoners with their epinephrine and the syringes. The Rowdies stood guard, watching as the doctors carefully filled the syringes with the clear liquid. Dirk watched as the doctor that had remained to inject the girl carefully inserted the needle into the top of one of the vials he was holding.

"Um, right, how much do you weigh?" The doctor asked as he filled the syringe.

"Guess, it's not gonna matter when the aconite burns out of my system." The doctor shrugged and carefully injected the fluid into the girl's leg. It took less than a second for Dirk to notice the difference. The girl stood up straight, her eyes wide, and a grin spreading across her face.

"There we go!" She shouted, letting a howl slip from her lips. She turned to Dirk, her eyes blazing a bright green.

"I'm Amy by the way." Amy was gone in a blink, and wolf just a little shorter than Todd stood before Dirk, her tan pelt and floppy ear finally clicking the last of the puzzle together. Dirk grinned at her.

"Solved it."

 

Most of the remaining wolves had barreled down the stairs as soon as the aconite had burned from their system, only Amy and a woman named Yuki, who was not a wolf but a Kitsune, had stayed behind.

"So, can you shift too?" Dirk asked as they watched Vogel shake awake one of the guards they had knocked out on arrival. Yuki flashed Dirk a fantastic smile for someone who had just been comatose.

"I can, but, shifting inside is unwise." She turned back to the guard who was sitting up slowly, realizing that Vogel had snatched his gun and had it aimed at the guard's head.

"Where can we find the one he is looking for?" She crouched down, carefully grabbing the guard by the chin.

"We took him up to level 18 this morning after his attack."

"Attack?" Dirk asked. Yuki shot him a quick glance and then looked over to Amy who was whining loudly.

"He had some sort of allergic reaction," Yuki said quickly. "Amy says, that was about three hours ago."

"Okay, so he might still be on the 18th floor than, with– oh my god, Farah's on the 18th floor! Maybe she's already found him." An alarm began to sound, and red lights began flashing. The guard tried to squirm free of Yuki who simply stood and shoved him down with her foot, making the movement seem amazingly effortless.

"What is that? Yo, what is that alarm?" Amanda shouted. She had raced back up to the 12th floor after ensuring that the scientists had all bolted out of the building.

"It's for the main office. There's a problem, the facility is being evacuated." The guard growled out, trying to get away from Yuki with no luck.

"And let me guess," Dirk said, his hopes falling, "The main office is on the 18th floor?" The man nodded. Dirk was about to see if Farah could hear him when there was the sound of a loud bang from above. Everyone jerked towards the stairwell, Amy lowering herself, ready to pounce.

"DIRK!" A strangled scream came from the stairwell. Amy charged the door, barking loudly.

"She says there is someone upstairs. Is that your friend?" Yuki raced with Dirk, along with Cross and Gripps out the door and up the remaining six flights of stairs. Dirk nodded as he took the stairs two at a time.

"Fingers crossed she still has her gun."

 

Farah had lost her gun as soon as she had stepped out of the elevator. Two armed security men had checked her for weapons, removing her knives, and gun, and even her pepper spray.

"What can I say?" She tried to make conversation, "A lady has got to protect herself."

Neither smiled. Farah was sure they were robots. The floor she had exited onto was much more developed than the construction floor Dirk had described to her. The guards led her down the only hall and directly to a large, modern office. There was an entire wall filled with books, and art and even a few paintings, while the other two walls were made of windows that looked out over the Seattle skyline. The furniture was sparse for an office of that size, with only one main desk, and three chairs, on on the back side of the desk and two on the front. The only odd part of the office was a relatively large box that was covered by a sheet that sat near the desk.

"Hello, I don't believe we've had the pleasure." A man spun around in the chair behind the desk and was giving Farah a dark grin.

"I'm Jebediah Xerxes, and you are?"

"Suzanne Boreton." Farah supplied, giving a smile and extending her hand for a handshake. Mr. Xerxes took her hand, giving it two firm shakes and then gesturing to one of the chairs.

"Tell me Ms. Boreton, what brings you here today?" Farah sat, taking note of a large marble like paperweight that sat just within arm's reach on the desk.

"Well, I hear you trade in, certain rare animals, and I was wondering if you had any that I would be looking for." Mr. Xerxes leaned back in his chair, steepling his fingers, just like a villain in a movie, Farah was going to have to tell Dirk, he just wasn't going to believe it.

"Is that so? And what type of animal are you looking for?"

"A wolf," she said, a smile creeping across her face, "preferably an unbonded male. I'm willing to pay handsomely." She carefully pulled her phone from her pocket and waved it slightly. "I'm ready to transfer funds as soon as we can make a deal."

"Well, that's quite a coincidence. I just got an unbonded male in yesterday." He snapped his fingers, and one of the security men walked over to the large box and pulled the sheet off. Farah had to stifle a gasp as she recognized the person in the cage.

"This fine specimen is recently turned, within the year, unbonded, and, unfortunately, deathly allergic to aconite. But we believe that some of the more potent drugs would be fantastic substitutes. Until bonded, he will, of course, have to wear the dampening collar, unless you prefer a challenge?" Farah tried her best to give a sly smile.

"We'll see how it goes. How much?" Xerxes raised an eyebrow.

"You don't even want to look him over?" Farah shrugged.

"You're a businessman, and I'm offering you a lot of money for a rare commodity. I highly doubt that at the eleventh hour you would try to pull something over on me." She adjusted slightly, giving him a wide grin.

"That's so funny, I was thinking the same thing, Ms. Black." Farah hopped up, grabbing hold of the paperweight and swinging it into the face of the first security guard and then the next. She grabbed their guns from their holsters and turned only to stop. Xerxes was laughing, holding a small rectangular object.

"I am impressed. You solved the riddles, you let them take your weapons, and for a moment, I almost thought you were sincere. But what you failed to understand is what the collar can do. We use these on weres that are overly aggressive. This button," he turned the small box so that Farah could see two different colored buttons, one red and one purple, "the red one here, will send 50,000 volts coursing through his body. While this one, the purple one, will inject him with a normal amount of liquid aconite. However, if you remember Ms. Black, Mr. Brotzman here is not only averse to aconite, like the other wolves, he's deathly allergic to it. So, shoot me, and I'll press the purple button, and he dies." Farah swallowed and looked over at Todd. He was unconscious, breathing slowly but breathing.

"How much for us to both walk out of here, no questions asked?" He laughed.

"More than you have. So, tell me. What are you planning Ms. Black?" The sound of a gunshot sounded in the distance, Farah turned her head and wondered if the others were fairing better than her.

"Oh, you brought friends. Well in that case maybe I'll just inject him with the wolfsbane anyway." He went to hit the button.

"No! Please, I will give you $3 million right now. I have the funds. Please, just don't kill him." Farah raised the gun in a surrender motion, trying to show some good faith. Xerxes looked at her and then down at the guards on the floor. They stayed like that for almost a solid minute as Xerxes thought through the offer and for a moment Farah believed it had worked.

"You know, I think I'll kill him anyway." He hit the button, and Farah fired, dead center between his eyes. Xerxes hit the floor after Farah had already made it over to the cage.

"Todd, Todd, wake up." She picked the lock in under 30 seconds. By that point, Todd was opening his eyes, but something was wrong, he looked panicked.

"Far- can't- air." He was gasping, his eyes losing focus and his body slowly beginning to twitch.

"It's okay, stay with me." Farah raced over to where Xerxes had fallen and grabbed the clicker. There was a third button, and Farah hoped it unlocked the system. She pressed it carefully and the contraption fell from Todd's neck. He gasped, clawing at his throat as he tried to climb from the cage.

"I've got you." Farah threw her arm around his waist and his arm over her shoulder.

"Ep- ep- epi-" he gasped, "epi-pen." His lips were starting to turn blue. Farah didn't have time to look for one, so she headed towards the only source of sheer luck she knew, dragging Todd back out into the hall and towards the stairs she had seen on her way into the office. Alarms began to sound, one of the guards must have awoken and found Xerxes. By the time they made it to the stairs, Todd was unconscious and no longer breathing. Farah kicked the door in, a loud bang echoing off the walls. She collapsed to the floor with Todd, letting out a strangled cry into the universe.

"DIRK!" She tried to shake Todd awake at the entrance to the stairs with no luck. From below she could hear barking, and what sounded like a large dog barreling up the stairs.

 

Dirk found Farah trying to push an overly agitated Amy way from her with very little luck. Something caught in his chest as he rounded the last set of stairs and brought him to a stop. Gripps and Cross seemed to sense it as well, stopping just short of the top of the stairs.

"Farah?" He asked. She looked up, and Dirk saw the tears.

"He said, an epi-pen, I don't have, I couldn't find," Amy moved to reveal Todd unconscious on the floor in Farah's lap, his color almost gone, and his lips lightly tinged blue. Dirk gasped, a small cry escaping his lips.

"I have some." Yuki moved forward, carefully filling the syringe with far more than could be safe. But it would be fine. Todd would be able to handle the epinephrine. Dirk was sure.

Yuki moved up the stairs and sat down on Todd's left, carefully making sure not to break the syringe as she filled it. She glanced over at Farah and carefully reached over grabbing her arm to get her attention.

"You will need to get his heart pumping for this to work," Yuki said, carefully pressing down on Todd's thigh. Farah nodded and carefully moved him to the floor.

"I can do that." Farah began chest compressions, quietly humming a tune as she went. Yuki looked back at Dirk and nodded, carefully inserting the needle and emptying the contents. For a solid minute no one spoke, no one moved. This was probably the stillest Dirk had ever seen members of the Rowdy3, and he couldn't even be impressed. Farah was trying to bring Todd back to life, and Dirk was breaking.

He moved carefully up the stairs and around Yuki who was rubbing Todd's leg where she had made the injection. He hadn't been able to see what was going on and wanted to be closer. Needed to be closer.

"Todd," Dirk cried quietly, kneeling down and taking hold of Todd's limp hand, "Hey, you can't go, we were going to get a place, remember? And I was going to learn how to not create toxic wastelands in the kitchen. And we were going to get a corgi, you didn't know about that, and I was going to have a marvelous tea collection."

Farah continued to pump on Todd's chest, tears making their way down her cheeks. Yuki was carefully watching Todd's face for any sort of life and then cast a quick glance back down at Gripps and Cross who were slowly shaking their heads. Dirk ignored the others and looked down at Todd's pale face.

"And, we were going to watch movies, and eat popcorn, and you were going to teach me the guitar. Again, we hadn't discussed this, but it was implied with moving in together." Dirk found himself slowly petting Todd's forearm as he gripped his limp hand tighter.

They reached the three-minute mark and Amy had started to wine. She crouched near Todd's head and sniffed, ruffling his hair with each breath but receiving no response.

"We found Mr. Hoppers. I'm sure you figured it out, I'm sure you had your very own solved it moment, and I missed it. I don't want to miss any more moments." Farah had stopped compressions. She was leaning backward into Yuki who had wrapped an arm around Farah's shoulders, trying to hold her together as Farah sobbed into her hands.

"Come on, Todd. We were going to do so many amazing things. You can't leave me to do them all alone. You promised, pack doesn't leave remember? You're never alone when you have pack." Amy let out a mournful howl. Others could be heard lower in the building. And within moments the whole stairwell was vibrating with the sound. Dirk leaned down and rested his forehead against Todd's.

"You can't leave. Please, come back. Come back." The sound of the howls faded and for Dirk, the whole world fell silent. His world was gone.

_Dirk._

_Not now universe_ , he pushed the hunch away, but it came back.

_Dirk._

_Please,_ he cried out to whatever the fabric of reality actually was, _please give him back._

_Dirk._ There was a thump. And then another. And another. What was that thumping noise?

_Please, he's all I have, give him back!_

_I'm right here._

The thumping grew stronger, and Dirk was vaguely aware of shuffling happening around him. Cross swore, and Dirk heard heavy boots on the stairs.

_Hey, come on, sit up._ That voice, it didn't sound like the usual hunches. This one was warm and sweet and reminded Dirk of a perfect afternoon in a meadow.

Dirk realized he was still leaning over, crying on to Todd's head. He blinked open his eyes and was greeted by warm darkness. He went to move his hand and felt the familiar fur, the soft, thick fur that he had spent hours petting.

"Todd?" He whispered sitting up and taking in the sight for the first time. In place of human Todd, there was wolf Todd, who was resting on his side, head raised so that he could see Dirk.

"Todd!" Dirk threw himself back on top of him, Todd letting out a pained yip and struggling slightly.

_Dude, too hard._

"Sorry," Dirk sat up, tears drenching his face. Amy was still laying close by. Her eyes had narrowed as she looked between the two of them.

"Yo, we need to go!" Amanda's voice sounded from below, and everyone stumbled to action. The Rowdies turned and vaulted the stairs disappearing down with Amanda. Yuki dragged Farah by her arm down the stairs and called to Amy who followed close behind, taking the stairs a floor at a time.

Dirk carefully helped Todd to his feet and stepped back as Todd shook over the shreds of his clothes. Dirk moved back in carefully running his hands along Todd's neck and over his shoulders, checking to make sure that nothing was broken.

"Are you okay? You were, well, you were not quite alive a moment ago." Dirk was still crying, the tears making it hard to see and his voice cracking over his words. Todd looked up at him and carefully nudged Dirk's cheek with his nose.

_I feel fine, a little sore and very jittery, come on._ Todd bent and waited for Dirk to hop on, but Dirk was staring at him, a look of utter confusion on his face.

"Okay, I know this is, a really bad time to ask this, but can you talk now?" Todd straightened and snorted at him, narrowing his eyes slightly.

_Talk?_ Dirk stumbled backward into the wall and pointed.

"That! Is that you? Am I losing my mind? Oh god, it's those stupid pills Farah gave me." Dirk had started speaking faster as his brain tried to come up with a rational explanation for what was going on.

_Farah gave you drugs?_

"She _did_! I was panicking and –" Todd barked. Pushing Dirk back up against the wall with his head.

_You can hear me! Why can you hear me? We didn't, like, bond or anything. How?_

"I don't know! This is–" a howl cut through the air and Todd turned his head.

_It's Amy. Jesus that girl swears like a sailor. Come on!_ Todd lowered himself down again, and Dirk jumped on, gripping tight to his shoulder fur.

_Hang tight._ Todd leaped down the first set of stairs and continued all the day down until the raced into the parking garage. They cleared the building in record time, and Todd took them straight back the way they had come just the day before. They made it to the woods quickly and were greeted by Amy who had been waiting for them just inside the tree line.

She yipped at him, shaking her head up at Dirk. Todd turned and looked at him.

_I don't know._ Dirk narrowed his eyes as he realized that he could hear half of the conversation that Todd and Amy were having. Amy continued to yip, gesturing in the direction of the office.

_We can talk later._ Amy snorted and took off, disappearing into the woods. Todd went to take a step and snarled, looking down at his paw.

_Ugh, stupid paw._

"What happened?" Dirk asked, trying to see over Todd's shoulder.

_It's nothing. It's just a burn._

"It hasn't healed?"

_No._ Todd seemed anxious about this topic, he was carefully trotting back towards the office where the others would be arriving soon, every other step was a hop in an attempt not to put weight on his paw.

"Can I help at all?" Todd came to a complete stop and lowered himself down. Dirk jumped down and moved around so that he was looking at Todd. Todd was, however, avoiding eye contact.

_The burn can't heal, it's from a silver coin. I need to be bonded to be strong enough to heal._

"Well, then, how do we do that?" Dirk felt the embarrassment through whatever this new thing was with Todd. Todd looked down at his paws and heaved a sigh.

_It's just, it's an intimate thing, and I don't want to push you into anything you're not ready for._ Dirk smirked and placed a hand on the side of Todd's head.

"Hey, I want to help. You and me forever, remember? No matter what happens, it's always going to be you and me." Todd looked up at him.

_Are you sure? Would you be okay being bonded, to me, forever?_ Dirk smiled and wrapped his arms tightly around Todd's neck.

"Yes. I'll even marry you, too." Todd snorted at him and nuzzled his neck.

_Good, because that is clearly the next logical step in this relationship. Intimately soul bond to each other, and then marriage._

Dirk laughed and stood slowly, electing to walk the rest of the distance to the office. Dirk was carefully brushing his fingers through the fur on Todd's shoulder.

_So, I died, right?_ Todd limped alongside Dirk, glancing at him with cool blue eyes.

"Yes, and you're never allowed to do it again."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> See! It had a happy ending! Well, almost end, there's a little more coming.
> 
> * 'Why is a raven like a writing desk? Because there's a 'b' in both.' Is in reference to The Librarians 2x02 and is an exchanged between Jacob Stone and The Queen of Hearts as she attacks him and Eve Baird. I believe the original answer was given by Aldous Huxley though. It is my understanding that there is no real answer, and is instead just a nonsense riddle.
> 
> ** "If seven maids with seven mops, swept it for half a year..." Is a stanza from The Walrus and the Carpenter by Lewis Carroll.


	3. Epilogue

"So, in conclusion, Mr. Hoppers was never really missing, but when Amy actually did go missing, her sister knew it was time to take action, her parents had clearly thought the worst had happened to their daughter and had given in to believing they would never see her again. Abby came to us and gave us the description of her sister, albeit it was the wrong species and under the guise that it was going to be a simple missing pet case, but even with the subterfuge, we were able to locate Amy and set free 50 captive werewolves. And nobody died."

"Um, I did." Todd raised the hand that had the beer in it. The group that had gathered at the office looked from Dirk to Todd and back again.

"No, nobody died." Dirk stated again, eyes still closed, waiting for his chance to do his 'did it' snap.

"He was dead for like 5 minutes," Farah added, looking over at Todd, a sad look clouding her features. "Sorry about that." Todd waved her off.

"It's fine because apparently, I didn't die."

"Nobody died!" Dirk shouted. Amy snorted from the couch where she was enjoying the only soda in the whole room. It had been just little over a week since the breakout and Amy had come strolling into the office, finding the group enjoying a break from work. Dirk had been more than happy to offer her a full recap of the entire adventure, helping to fill in the parts that she had missed.

"And everyone lived happily ever after. Did it!" Dirk snapped and sat down with a huff and crossed his arms.

"So, like, is this normal after case banter?" Amy asked, glancing around the room. Everyone nodded.

"Pretty much," Todd said, downing his beer.

"Sick. Are you guys hiring?" Farah laughed.

"Try again when you're legal and then sure."

"I mean, technically, in dog years, I'm like 119, does that count?" Todd snorted as he moved towards the kitchen.

"Hear that Dirk? You're engaged to a freakin' Time Lord." Todd said. Dirk snapped his head in Todd's direction.

"First, that's the wrong use. second, you're watching the show?!" Todd laughed and waved him off.

"Yes, you convinced me to give it a try." Todd dipped into the kitchen and tossed his bottle into the trash. He turned and almost barreled into Amy.

"Got you." She said, quickly grabbing his hand. She examined his unmarked skin, and then looked up at him.

"So, you finally get some?"

"Again, very uncomfortable discussing this with a child. But, if you must know, I took the necessary actions to fix my hand." She was grinning at him.

"You're a lucky dude," she said. Todd frowned.

"Aren't you supposed to say 'he's a lucky dude'?" Amy shook her head.

"No, Dirk's a catch, I still don't understand this whole thing." She gestured at all of him. "But you two seem very happy, so who am I to judge." She grabbed another soda and popped it open.

"And just remember, the wolf community is like in your debt, so you've got any questions, just ask." Todd smiled over at her.

"Thanks, Amy." She downed her soda and tossed it in the trash.

"Sure thing freshi. Well, see you in a couple of months when I become your boss. Or you know, whenever the world ends next." She disappeared out the back door leaving Todd alone in the kitchen.

_Todd._ He looked up toward the door and smiled. He had thought he knew what pack felt like, that he knew what family felt like, but the warmth and the love that accompanied the voice was unlike anything Todd had experienced before.

_Coming._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The end. Maybe. Probably. Who am I kidding, I have more. So much more. Let me know what you guys think! Thank you for reading!

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Let me know what you think. More to come soon!


End file.
